Hero
by SallieKate
Summary: Kurt is diagnosed with lung cancer. He doesn't have the gene to be cured by chemotherapy. Will Blaine be able to survive? Warning : Character Death!


He never, ever saw it coming at all.

Kurt still remembers Blaine brushing off his complaints for the longest time. He would whine, Blaine would just say, "Oh, you big baby," as he kissed his lips sincerely. "I'm sure it's nothing." Kurt never saw it coming at all.

Blaine started getting worried one weekend on their weekly jog. They would go through from Blaine's house, pass the park, around the school, by the store, all the way to Kurt's house. Jogging was one of their favorite things to do together. But this weekend, Kurt had to stop several times because of his so-called 'chest pain'.

"Blaine, I'm not kidding. My chest is hurting really bad. I'm not kidding. Did it get hotter out here?" Kurt panted as he bent to put his hands on his knees, red sweatband collecting the sweat dripping from his chesnut-brown locks.

"You okay, babe? You're really out of breath. Like, _really _out of breath. And well, it _is_ summer. So." Blaine asked, with brows furrowed in worry.

"I feel like I can't breathe. My-my breathing i-is difficult. I n-need to go h-home." Kurt shook his head in defeat.

"Okay, okay. We'll go home then." Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and headed back home.

"Are you gonna go to the doctor?" Blaine asked Kurt as they sat on the Hummel's couch.

"Yeah, I don't know when yet." Kurt blew off his breathing difficulty, trying not to worry too much.

"You need to go. Seriously, Kurt." Blaine watched Kurt like he was a wild animal.

"Okay, _okay! _I'll _go._ Tomorrow. I promise." Kurt rolled his eyes as he snapped.

"Babe, I only want to make sure you're okay." Blaine put his hand on Kurt's knee as they sat and continued their movie.

"I know, I know." Kurt smiled.

Blaine didn't notice the sadness in Kurt's eyes when they met for coffee around 4:23pm the next day. Blaine had forgotten about the doctor's appointment. He didn't notice the emptiness in Kurt's smile.

"Oh yeah! So how'd the doctor's appointment go?" Blaine pepped cheerfully as he mixed the sugar into his coffee, smiling at his boyfriend.

Kurt didn't say anything.

Blaine started babbling, what he always did out of nervousness. "Well, you should've been there with me this morning. My mom woke me up, telling me to make eggs and stuff and we _both know_ I can't make eggs, Kurt. Hey remember that time I had a cold and you brought me breakfast in bed that one Thursday morning even though you got in trouble with Miss Carter because apparently science is _so important_. And then the pancakes you made were in the shape of Mickey Mouse and hey, we should go to Disney World together one day! That'd be cool and we could get our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie and Donald, but of course not Goofy because I know you told me about that one dream you had when you were eight and –"

"Blaine, I have cancer." Kurt finally looked up with eyes red from tears.

Blaine laughed to himself as he looked at the floor.

"I'm sorry but I don't see how this situation is funny…" Kurt whispered as he stared at Blaine.

"No you don't. And if the doctors told you that then they're wrong because you are Kurt Hummel and you are perfectly healthy and you just were having a bad day that one day when we went jogging, right? You don't have cancer. You can't have cancer." Blaine looked up at Kurt and stared at him with tears filling his eyes.

"Blaine…" Kurt reached across the table, linking his fingers with Blaine's.

"You don't have cancer," Blaine laughed, "They have chemotherapy, right? Yeah. You're gonna be fine."

"I don't have the necessary gene in my body that will accept chemotherapy…" Kurt said under his breath.

"What does that mean…?" Blaine's eyes burrowed into Kurt.

"It means I can't do chemo. And I don't have long." Kurt said quietly, tears running down his cheeks.

"How long…" Blaine whispered, looking at their interlocked fingers now.

"One month..." Kurt whispered.

"What?" Blaine blinked in disbelief.

"I have one month.." Kurt wiped his face.

"That's not long enough." Blaine scooted his seat back and walked out the door, leaving Kurt sitting at the table, sobbing into his hands.

Three hours later, Blaine calls Kurt.

"Hey."

"Why did you leave?"

"I needed some time."

"Blaine, you don't _have_ time. _I_ don't have time. _We_ don't have time."

"Please don't talk about that."

"We can't avoid this subject forever. Hell, I only have a month left."

"Please."

"I found some meetings we can go to. They help with, like, coping about stuff. And they're supposed to be really helpful."

"Meetings?"

"Yeah. Every night."

"Okay…"

Blaine thought the first meeting was a little weird. They met at this old school building about 20 minutes away from McKinley. As soon as they walked in the door, they saw tons of crying people.

"Are you sure this is a good idea…" Blaine grasped Kurt's hand a little tighter as they walked through the doors.

"It's better than nothing." Kurt whispered as he kissed Blaine's hand and rubbed it with the palm of his hand.

As they entered the room where the meeting was held, an overweight blubbering woman attacked them with hugs and sobs.

"You must be Kurt and B-blaine! I'm so so sorry about your situation!" She sobbed into their joined shoulders.

"Thank you… where will we sit?" Kurt smiled warily at the woman.

"R-right over h-here, honey." She sniffled, blowing her nose into her tissue.

Kurt and Blaine followed the crying woman's gesture, and carefully sat down next to an arguing couple in the bench that was across the room.

As the meeting began, the woman who led them in began speaking.

"E-everyone, we h-have new members today. Please make them feel welcome. Go ahead an start, you two." She gestured towards the couple.

"Well, hello, my name is Kurt Hummel." Kurt began.

"And I'm Blaine Anderson." Blaine added.

"And I have been diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. My body doesn't have the gene to where I can be cured, thus chemotherapy is out of the question. The doctors have given me one month." Kurt smiled sadly, and a man across the room broke out in hysterical sobs.

"You know… I had cancer once." A mysterious woman on the other side of Blaine stared blankly into space.

"Oh…really?" Blaine asked, interested.

"Yeah. Did you know that if you tell the cancer cells to go away, they will? It's true." The woman demanded after she heard small snickers across the room.

"Oh…okay, well, we'll try that, definitely." Blaine nodded his head and looked at Kurt.

Each meeting, every night, was the same. The same mindless chatter, the same clueless people. After the seventh, Kurt went to Blaine's house for their weekly Sunday night lasagna. Blaine's parents never ate with them, but Cooper was in town this week, so it was an obligation. Dinner was silent, before Cooper chimed in.

"So, Kurt, are you excited to go see the new Spiderman movie? I know those are your favorite super heroes. It's coming out in a couple of months, it's gonna be so great!" Cooper commented, lasagna filling his mouth.

"I won't be here." Kurt whispered, forking his salad on his plate.

"…what?" Cooper sat, shocked.

"I have cancer. Stupid, fucking cancer." Kurt laughed to himself bitterly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Kurt. I didn't –" Cooper reached across the table to pat Kurt's arm as Blaine's parents gasped in horror. Kurt stormed off up to Blaine's room.

Blaine followed Kurt up to his room, and found him pacing across the room.

"Hey, hey, what was that all about?" Blaine asked in a comforting tone.

Kurt had to tell someone.

"You know, why did _I_ have to get stupid fucking cancer! I mean, _CANCER, _Blaine! Fucking _cancer!_ Do you not _know_ how much I hurt _every single fucking day!_ And the cancer is trying to defeat me, and I guess that it's succeeding. And I don't know if you've realized this or not, but next month, I'm not going to _fucking be here._ And we're going to these _STUPID MEETINGS but_ they're not _DOING_ anything! And you're gonna get married and be so happy and I'm going to be _dead,_ Blaine. I'm going to be _gone._ I don't get to experience my wedding day. I don't get to go to New York. I don't get to go to college. I don't get to see marriage equality in all fifty states. I don't get to marry you, like we promised. I don't get to know what it's like to be a father, or take my daughter to her first day of school. I don't get to do _any _of that. And every time I walk outside I feel like I'm going to _explode_ because I'm not going to be here for that much longer and my _hair_ is falling out. My fucking _hair._ I didn't think that was possible if you didn't do chemotherapy, but apparently it is. And so now I have to wear this stupid _fucking hat_ and I look like an idiot and I'm going bald and I don't _want to die, Blaine._" Kurt screamed as tears poured down his face, throwing his hat across the room and feeling what hair he had left.

Blaine walked towards Kurt and pulled him into his arms. They hugged tight for what felt like forever. Kurt sobbed into Blaine's shoulder as Blaine kissed Kurt's slightly bald head.

"I love you forever, Kurt. Forever. When you're gone, there's not going to be any other. There never will be any other. It's only you. It's always been you." Blaine kissed Kurt sweetly.

"Look at you, with your beautiful hair…" Kurt smiled as he pulled back and ran his fingers through his hair.

"You know what?" Blaine pulled away from Kurt and disappeared into the bathroom.

"Where are you going!" Kurt called to him from the bedroom.

Blaine returned to the bedroom with a pair of scissors.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no." Kurt shook his head as he sat down on Blaine's bed.

"I didn't say anything." Blaine joined Kurt and kissed him into the mattress.

"I love you so much, Blaine." Kurt kissed Blaine passionately.

"I loved you first." Blaine argued.

"Oh, shut up." Kurt laughed playfully as he hit Blaine's shoulder.

Nothing was much remembered about how they fell asleep. The night was a mixture of skin and passion and kisses and love. They finally drifted off to sleep.

Kurt woke Blaine up a few hours later, mumbling in his sleep while shaking violently. Tears were running down his cheeks while he whimpered quietly. His chest was heaving, implying difficulty breathing. The clock read 12:19am.

"Kurt? Kurt!" Blaine whispered loudly as he tapped Kurt on his chest.

Kurt gasped loudly and violently and panted as he woke up. He took deep breaths in between every word that he said.

"Blaine? Blaine?" Kurt sat up and searched the room frantically.

"It's okay, babe. I'm right here. I'm right here." Blaine rubbed soothing circles into Kurt's shoulder as he guided him back down to his arms.

"What did you dream?" Blaine kissed Kurt's forehead sincerely.

"I was dying. I was bald and I was dying. My breathing gave out, and you woke me up just in time, Blaine. You saved me." Kurt cried into Blaine's bare chest.

"Oh, Kurt…" Blaine kissed him deeply.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"Do you think that I'm…ugly?" Kurt whispered, almost ashamed.

"What?"

"Do you think I'm ugly, with hair balding and all…"

"Absolutely not." Blaine sat up and walked into the bathroom, grabbing the scissors.

"Where are you going?" Kurt sat up, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Come here!" Blaine called from the room, echoing.

Kurt walked into the bathroom, lights off. The moon was the only light shining through the window. Kurt saw Blaine's silhouette, and somehow he managed to bring a chair into the bathroom with him. It didn't matter to Kurt how, though, because there stood his beautiful, brave boyfriend, with a pair of scissors. He had left the product out that day, so his hair was going all kinds of different ways.

"I want you to cut my hair." Blaine said simply, placing the scissors in Kurt's hands.

"Blaine…" Kurt disagreed.

"I don't care what you think. You're doing it." Blaine sat down in the chair, face perfectly lit by the moonlight.

"You're beautiful…" Kurt whispered as he kissed Blaine sweetly.

"I'm sorry I can't save you." Blaine cried softly.

Blaine had been strong about this entire situation; it was different seeing him break down.

"Hey… stop. I guess this is my time, Blaine. Don't worry about it. You're going to be fine without me." Kurt comforted him quietly.

"I'm supposed to be the one saving you. And I can't. I'm supposed to be the hero of this story." Blaine sniffled into the air.

"I love you." Kurt kissed him passionately.

"Cut my hair."

"I'm not going to be good…" Kurt swayed timidly, swinging the scissors in the air.

"Does it look like I care?" Blaine laughed quietly.

And so Kurt cut his hair. There were a lot of 'Oh!' moments and 'Oooh, sorry.' Times. But Blaine didn't care. Blaine knew this was making Kurt happy. That's all that mattered in this moment. That's all that ever mattered.

"Okay…I'm done, I'm done." Kurt backed away as he smiled brightly.

Blaine stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. There were small patches of hair missing from his scalp, but he didn't mind.

"You did alright." Blaine turned to Kurt and smiled happily.

"You look like me." Kurt giggled.

"I'll never be as beautiful as you." Blaine walked towards Kurt and kissed him deeply. Kurt smiled into the kiss and opened his mouth so Blaine's tongue could find his, finally. It was a battle for dominance but Kurt finally gave in. Kurt's hands threaded into Blaine's curly locks as their tongues danced. It was a familiar sensation. It felt like home to them. It was the only place and time when Kurt forgot about the cancer. Forgot about the chest pains. Forgot about everything. The only thing that was there was Blaine. He was the only thing. It was only him. It always had been him. In this moment, difficulty breathing wasn't an issue because Blaine simply _took his breath away. _ Kurt breathed contently and was okay in this moment because it was all _Blaine. _

"You are my sweetest downfall." Kurt whispered breathlessly as he looked into Blaine's honey-colored eyes, flickering in the dim moonlight, foreheads rested together.

"I'm not going to live without you," Blaine nodded his head, tears filling his eyes. "You're going to beat this, do you hear me? You're going to beat this."

"I admire your optimism. I don't have much longer, though, Blaine." Kurt laughed quietly.

"I don't care what you think. You're not going anywhere." Blaine kissed Kurt again, and Kurt was led back to the bed.

The back of his knees hit the bed, and he sat on the bed as Blaine straddled him.

"So beautiful," Blaine commented as he kissed Kurt's face. "You are the most beautiful thing that ever lived, Kurt. I love you. I love you. I love you."

They laid down on the bed, Blaine's arm around Kurt, Kurt with his head laid on Blaine's bare chest.

"Hey, Blaine?" Kurt whispered quietly a few minutes later.

"Yes?"

"When I die, I don't want you to bury me…" Kurt whispered so quiet that Blaine hardly heard him.

"You're not going to die soon, so we don't have to worry about that." Blaine argued stubbornly.

"Blaine… I don't have much time left… when I die, I don't want to be buried. That's awful. No one wants to be put under the ground. Why would anyone want that?" Kurt wondered aloud.

"I guess because it's traditional." Blaine commented.

"Well, traditional is weird." Kurt laughed.

"So, you want to be cremated? I'm confused." Blaine said quietly.

"NO! God, no. Absolutely not." Kurt refused loudly.

"So what do you want me to do, then? I'm not going to leave you on the couch, forever creeping everybody out every single Thanksgiving dinner." Blaine laughed.

"Can you imagine?" Kurt giggled loudly.

"Everyone would be so creeped out."

They laughed there for a second.

"But seriously… what do you want me to do?" Blaine asked.

"I want to be a coral reef." Kurt said simply.

"Is that even… possible?" Blaine was so confused.

"Yep! I saw it on Oprah this one time." Kurt smiled.

"Oprah? So that's how you rule out all of your decisions. Sounds sensible." Blaine teased.

"Oh, but of course." Kurt smiled.

"I'm sleepy." Blaine yawned loudly.

"So go to sleep." Kurt laughed.

"But I'm enjoying this time with you." Blaine argued.

"Blaine Anderson, I love you. So, so much. You mean everything to me. I love you. Goodnight." Kurt snuggled closer to his boyfriend.

"Kurt Hummel, you _are_ everything. The air that I breathe, the thoughts that I think, the steps that I think. You _are_ my world. I love you more than anyone has ever loved. Goodnight, my love." Blaine smiled contently.

With that, they both drifted off into sleep.

Blaine was woken up in the middle of the night by Kurt shaking and sobbing and heaving heavily. This time, the clock read 5:02am.

"Kurt! Kurt!" Blaine shook Kurt violently.

"B-blaine. I c-cant b-breathe. Th-the r-room is c-closing in. Oh g-god, B-Blaine. I'm s-scared. Am I d-dying?" Kurt tried to speak after that but his voice was cut off by loud gasps for air.

"Kurt? Baby? You need to calm down. Calm down, baby, it's okay. It's okay." Blaine blinked back tears, trying to be strong for Kurt.

Kurt lead shaky hands to Blaine's face and kissed him softly. His entire body was shaking violently, unable to be controlled. Blaine felt Kurt's pulse beating through his chest. Blaine pulled back to look Kurt in the eyes. His soft blue-green eyes were not lit anymore, they were dull. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he shook his head and gasped trying to get some air. Finally, the gasping stopped and Kurt's eyes shut as he breathed shallowly. Then his breathing stopped all together.

"Kurt? Oh, god, no. _Fuck_, Kurt. Wake up. Wake up. You're not gonna do this to me." Blaine panicked and started to try CPR. His chest compressions were shallow, not with a lot of force, due to his hysterical sobs.

He picked up the phone and dialed 911. Not long after that, the ambulance arrived and they were being taken into the hospital. They didn't have to wait, and Kurt was immediately taken into a back room.

"I'm going with him." Blaine argued with the doctors as they refused to let him into the room with him.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you're going to have to wait here, outside. You can still see your friend inside, through the window, okay?" The nurse was nicer than Blaine expected, and he was grateful for that.

"Okay…" Blaine stood by the window anxiously, sobbing hysterically still, and never took his eyes off Kurt's beautiful, solemn face. He saw the doctors working, putting all kinds of tubes down Kurt's mouth, cutting into his body, trying to save the love of his life. Kurt still had a pulse, which was a good sign, Blaine assumed. They worked on Kurt for a solid two hours. The steady beep of the heart monitor left Blaine with hope. It wasn't until the final beep of the monitor, and a straight line came up on the screen, that Blaine cracked.

Blaine didn't believe it for a moment. He stood, staring in disbelief, then he dropped to the ground. His heart stopped. The doctors rushed Blaine in the room on a bed next to Kurt when they realized what happened, and tried to begin surgery. But it was too late. His heart had given out, a heart attack due to too much stress at one time killed him. That was just it. He physically _couldn't live_ without Kurt.

I assume that's what they call _soulmates._

_Kurt Hummel – Official Time of Death – 7:49am._

_Blaine Anderson – Official Time of Death – 7:51am._

When Blaine awoke, he was surrounded by white and gold. There wasn't a thing in sight that wasn't white or gold. He wore a white robe, with a golden sash. He didn't know where he was, but nothing hurt. Blaine looked around and saw Kurt standing there, looking more beautiful than he had ever seen. He was breathtaking.

"Welcome home, Blaine." Kurt smiled brightly and took Blaine's hand, kissing him deeply.

Because nothing else mattered in that moment, but them.

Oh, he never, ever saw him coming at all.


End file.
